U.S. Customs encounters budgetary growing pains

U.S. Customs encounters budgetary growing pains    U.S. Customs and Border Protection has temporarily suspended hiring inspectors and other personnel from outside the bureau until it can sort out budget uncertainties stemming from the merger of agencies that joined the Department of Homeland Security at its creation last year, according to Deborah Spero, acting deputy commissioner.
   The pause in external hiring could last several weeks or more, Spero said.
   During a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of the U.S. Customs Service Friday, Spero stressed that the move did not amount to a budget freeze, but was a prudent step to properly allocate funding that previously went in separate directions to the former Customs Service, the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Agricultural Plant and Health Inspection Service.
   The three agencies were reorganized and began operating under the direction of Customs and Border Protection in March 2003, but the agency encountered difficulty realigning the separate budgets into a single entity upon the start of the new fiscal year on Oct. 1, Spero said. Customs is analyzing how appropriations have been allocated at the midway point of the fiscal year to make sure spending rates do not exceed available funds, she said.
   “It would be irresponsible for us to just go spending money wildly at this point when you have questions. You wouldn’t do that personally and you certainly can’t do it in the government,” Spero said.
   Internal transfers are not affected by the budget situation, she said.
   Overall Customs appropriations are higher in fiscal 2004 than they were in 2003, she noted.